Banners were unfurled insulting rival fans, a supporter ran on to the pitch carrying an iron bar, flares were fired straight into the stands, stadium lights were switched off and the exits were locked.

This is not football. This is a war and people are dying in front of us. There is no movement and no security and no ambulances

As the crowd panicked, people were trampled in the crush and others fell from terraces, witnesses said.

Riot ... scores are dead after fighting broke out following the match between Al-Ahly and Al-Masri. Photo: AFP

Dead and wounded supporters were carried into the teams' locker rooms.

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These were the scenes on Wednesday night at the 18,000-capacity football stadium in Egypt's Port Said, where more than 70 people died and at least 1000 were injured in what was described by one government official as the "biggest disaster in Egypt's football history".

The trouble flared at the end of a match in which the home team Al-Masry beat visitors, Cairo based Al-Ahly, Egypt's top team, 3-1.

Pitch inavison ... fans ran on the field after the final whistle. Photo: AFP

"This is not football. This is a war and people are dying in front of us. There is no movement and no security and no ambulances," Al-Ahly player Mohamed Abo Treika told his club's television channel.

"I call for the premier league to be cancelled. This is horrible situation and today can never be forgotten."

The Australian embassy in Cairo said it was not aware that any foreigners were caught up in the riots, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said.

Danger ... the players run for cover. Photo: AFP

She added that consular officers in Cairo would be in touch with authorities to find out if any Australians were among the victims.

How it started

Witnesses said trouble broke out when Al-Ahly fans unfurled banners insulting Port Said and an Al-Ahly supporter invaded the pitch carrying an iron bar.

Egypt football riot

Al-Masry fans reacted by pouring on to the pitch and attacking Al-Ahly players. They then turned to the terraces to attack Al-Ahly supporters.

Live television coverage showed fans running on to the field and chasing Al-Ahly players.

A small group of riot police officers formed a corridor to try to protect the players, but they appeared overwhelmed and fans were still able to kick and punch the players as they fled.

Sources in Cairo said players and some fans were believed to have been trapped inside parts of the stadium, with reports that the perpetrators of the violence had them surrounded.

"We have heard they are preventing ambulances [from entering]", a Sky News reporter in Cairo said, noting Egyptian football fans were "known for their fanaticism".

"[But] why this has happened, no one can explain or understand."

Who is to blame?

Violence at football matches across north Africa has increased significantly since political unrest began sweeping the region more than a year ago.

And while the clashes and ensuing stampede did not appear to be directly linked to the political turmoil in Egypt, the violence raised fresh concerns about the ability of the state police to manage crowds.

Most of the hundreds of black-uniformed police with helmets and shields stood in lines and did nothing as football fans chased each other, some wielding sharp objects and others hurling sticks and rocks.

Angry politicians and sports officials decried a lack of security at the match and blamed the nation's leaders for allowing - or even causing - the tragedy.

"Doors of the stadium closed, lights suddenly off and you don't want us to be conspiracy oriented?" a Twitter user wrote from Cairo.

Others pointed out that organised football fans, known as ultras, played an important role in the revolution and rallies against military rule.

"So based on the ultras' role in the revolution, many view today's events in Port Said as planned revenge act against Al Ahli Ultras," another Twitter user wrote.

The ultras' anti-police songs, peppered with curses, quickly became viral and were an expression of the hatred many Egyptians felt toward security forces, who were accused of much of the abuse widespread under former president Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Today marks the first anniversary of clashes on Tahrir Square when Mubarak supporters on camel charged pro-democracy demonstrators, and fought with the ultras.

"The police and army [did not move] a muscle to prevent the bloodshed," activist Sohair Riad wrote on Facebook.

"Their silence screams complicity. This is a collective assassination of a group that continues to support the revolution and struggles against military rule."

"Down with military rule," thousands of Egyptians chanted at the main train station in Cairo where they awaited the return of fans, quickly turning the latest upsurge in violence into a political demonstration against army rule.

"The people want the execution of the field marshal," they shouted, turning on the ruler of the military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who tried to assuage anger by vowing to find the culprits in a phone call to a TV channel.

'Mubarak supporters to blame'

Albadry Farghali, a member of parliament for Port Said, accused officials and security forces of allowing the disaster, saying they still had ties to the government of Mr Mubarak, who was overthrown a year ago.

"The security forces did this or allowed it to happen. The men of Mubarak are still ruling. The head of the regime has fallen but all his men are still in their positions," he screamed in a telephone call to live television.

"Where is the security? Where is the government?"

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest political force, accused Mubarak supporters of instigating the violence.

"The events in Port Said are planned and are a message from the remnants of the former regime," MP Essam al-Erian said in a statement on the Islamist group's Freedom and Justice Party website.

In other comments, also posted on the site, Mr Erian said: "This tragedy is the result of negligence and the lack of army and police, and those running the country bear the responsibility.

"The collapse of security comes as though in revenge for our call to lift the state of emergency, with deliberate destruction in the country on the anniversary of the revolution," he said.

"There are those who deliberately want to sow chaos in the country and place obstacles in front of the peaceful transfer of power."

He said Parliament would send a letter to the interior minister and security chiefs asking them to "take responsibility or stay at home".

'Biggest disaster'

Deputy Health Minister Hesham Sheiha told state television: "This is unfortunate and deeply saddening. It is the biggest disaster in Egypt's football history."

Sepp Blatter, president of the FIFA world football federation, expressed his shock at the tragedy. "This is a black day for football. Such a catastrophic situation is unimaginable and should not happen," he said in a statement.

Al-Ahly goalkeeper Sharif Ikrami, who was injured, told the private station ONTV that the dead and wounded were being carried into the locker room.

"There were people dying in front of us," he said. "It's over. We've all made a decision that we won't play football any more. How will we play football after 70 people died? We can't think about it."

State television reported that Egypt's football federation had suspended premier league matches indefinitely.

'Everyone will get what they deserve'

The head of Egypt's ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, vowed to track down those behind the violence, speaking in a rare phone call to an Egyptian TV channel.

"These kind of events can happen anywhere in the world but we will not let those behind this get away," Mr Tantawi said, speaking to the sports television channel owned by Al-Ahly. He said victims would receive compensation after their cases were examined.

"We will get through this stage. Egypt will be stable. We have a roadmap to transfer power to elected civilians. If anyone is plotting instability in Egypt they will not succeed. Everyone will get what they deserve," he said, adding that securing the game was the responsibility of the police force.

He ordered two helicopters to be sent to Port Said to fly out some members of the Al-Ahly team and their fans, military sources said.

The helicopters would transfer the injured to military hospitals, the sources said.

Doctors in four hospitals said the death toll had reached 73, as ambulances continued to ferry in the injured from the stadium.

Some of the deaths were the result of stab wounds, the doctors said.

A number of policemen were among the dead, a medical source and witnesses said.

Hospitals throughout the Suez Canal zone were put on a state of emergency, and dozens of ambulances rushed to Port Said from the Canal cities of Ismailia and Suez, said an official in the zone's local ambulance service.

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said many of the victims had died in the crush. Mr Ibrahim told state television the search for suspects linked to the incident was continuing.

Forty-seven people were arrested, he added.

Fire at another stadium

Gunfire was also reported on the main road leading to Port Said from Cairo.

Another match in Cairo was halted by the referee after receiving news of the violence in Port Said, prompting fans to set parts of the stadium on fire, television footage showed.

Emergency services managed to control the blaze, a security official said.

Egypt's state prosecutors have ordered an investigation into the pitch invasion and the violence that ensued, judicial sources said.

Egypt's Parliament would hold an emergency session today, according to state media reports.

Increase in violence

Since Mr Mubarak was ousted last February, there has been sporadic and sometimes deadly unrest in Egypt coupled with a sharp rise in crime, linked to the scarcity of the unpopular police.

Earlier on Wednesday, gunmen raided a money transfer company in Cairo, state news agency MENA reported, bringing to five the number of armed robberies in less than a week in a country previously unaccustomed to such incidents.

In the capital, with its population of 20 million, crimes such as car theft have also became more widespread over the past 12 months.

Some of the major disasters in football stadiums in the last 30 years:

October 1982 - RUSSIA - Fans were crushed as they left a UEFA Cup tie between Moscow Spartak and Dutch side HFC Haarlem at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow. Officials from the former Soviet Union did not disclose the tragedy for years. When they did, the authorities gave an official death toll of 66 although the number who died in a crush at one exit could have been as high as 340.

May 1985 - BRITAIN - At least 56 people were killed and more than 200 injured when fire broke out in the stands at Bradford.

May 1985 - BELGIUM - Thirty-nine fans, mostly Italians, died in rioting before the European Cup final between Italy's Juventus and English club Liverpool at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels.

March 1988 - NEPAL - A stampede towards locked exits in a hailstorm at Nepal's national soccer stadium in Kathmandu killed more than 90 fans.

April 1989 - BRITAIN - Ninety-six people were killed and at least 200 injured in Britain's worst sports disaster after a crowd surge crushed packed fans against barriers at the English FA Cup semifinal match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield.

January 1991 - SOUTH AFRICA - Forty-two people died in a stampede during a pre-season game in the mining town of Orkney between the Kaizer Chiefs and the Orlando Pirates. A Pirates fan had attacked Chiefs supporters in the crowd with a knife.

May 1992 - FRANCE - Before the kick-off of a French Cup game between Bastia and Olympique Marseille in Corsica, a stand of the Furiani stadium collapsed, killing 18 people and injuring about 2,400.

October 1996 - GUATEMALA - Up to 82 people died and at least 147 were injured when an avalanche of fans tumbled down seats and a flight of stairs at a World Cup qualifying match between Guatemala and Costa Rica in Guatemala City.

April 2001 - SOUTH AFRICA - At least 43 people were crushed to death when soccer fans tried to force their way into Johannesburg's huge Ellis Park stadium midway through a top South African league match.

May 2001 - GHANA - Around 126 people were killed in a stampede at Accra's main soccer stadium when police fired teargas at rioting fans in one of Africa's worst soccer disasters.

March 2009 - IVORY COAST - At least 19 people were killed during a stampede at Abidjan's Felix Houphouet-Boigny stadium before a World Cup soccer qualifying match against Malawi.

February 2012 - EGYPT - Fans rioted at the end of a match in the city of Port Said when the local team Al-Masry beat Al-Ahly, one of Egypt's most successful clubs, 3-1. At least 73 people were killed and more than 1000 people injured.